[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 25 (Wednesday, March 9, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 9, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                             DECONSTRUCTION

                                 ______


                         HON. RONALD D. COLEMAN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 9, 1994

  Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, at a time of great confusion involving 
national affairs, I welcome the clarity and integrity of a recent 
commentary published in Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill. It 
was written by Congressman Charlie Rose of North Carolina, the 
distinguished chairman of the House Administration Committee.
  Mr. Rose exposes and confronts the deconstructionist attempts to 
achieve by pressure and manipulation a status that was not accorded to 
the Republicans by the voters.
  I agree with Mr. Rose's evaluation of those who would usurp power in 
a manner that is totally out of keeping with the historic traditions 
and democratic processes of the House.
  The Republicans will not get away with their efforts to downsize the 
elected majority's status by upgrading minority power in this body. 
They will not accomplish by pressure and posturing what they failed to 
win in the election booth.
  Republican deconstructionism seeks to trash the way the House 
functions by undermining the majority's ability to conduct business.
  Mr. Rose was absolutely justified in exposing this situation.
  I urge all Members to read and consider his article in Roll Call, 
published March 3.

                     [From Roll Call, Mar. 3, 1994]

     House Republicans Resort to the Politics of ``Deconstruction''

                    (By Representative Charlie Rose)

       The ``kinder and gentler'' House Republicans are seeking to 
     win by elocution what they failed to win by election, by 
     circumlocution what the circumstances of life deny them.
       They have embarked on a quest for the virtual unreality of 
     ``deonstructionism'': trying to downsize the elected 
     majority's status in the House while upgrading the power of 
     the minority.
       In November 1992, the voters clearly mandated Democratic 
     control of the House.
       Yet Minority Leader Bob Michel (R-Ill) now advocates 
     minority control of the Committee on Government Operations 
     and its oversight functions (``Guest Observer,'' Roll Call, 
     Feb. 28).
       House Republicans, meanwhile, demand disproportionate 
     status in running other committees. They seek to redefine the 
     status of a minority party.
       Writing in the Washington Times, GOP Rep. Jennifer Dunn 
     (Wash) called for ``more turnover among committee chairmen.'' 
     She said that ``at present, chairmen exercise far too much 
     power over the shaping of legislation. Committee staff, 
     unelected and entrenched, hold too much power, as well.''
       Deconstructionist tactics such as these are designed to 
     frustrate the majority party's ability to function in 
     committees and elsewhere. The strategy seeks to reduce the 
     number of computer links, telephones, staff, and even postal 
     facilities--the integral links of communication with 
     constituents.
       There are also efforts to sidestep legislative processes to 
     frustrate majority will.
       The minority seeks the right to take testimony and conduct 
     one-party hearings, a sort of Congress within the Congress. 
     Every function not controlled by the minority is portrayed as 
     corrupt.
       A vast reorganization of committee jurisdictions is on 
     their agenda as they seek to arrogate to themselves the 
     status the voters denied them.
       A House Republican version of ``Alice in Wonderland'' would 
     have the queen telling Alice ``votes mean what I say they 
     mean.''
       In the arts, the term ``deconstruction'' refers to a 
     radical movement that questions traditional assumptions about 
     the use of language and image to represent reality.
       The aim of the House GOP version of deconstructionism is to 
     trash the way the House works by undermining the Democratic 
     majority's ability to conduct business.
       Deconstructionist tactics are designed to frustrate the 
     majority party's ability to function effectively. 
     Obstructionist stratagems are the order of the day.
       I challenge the trivialization of a democratic system that 
     has stood the test of time. And I regret crazy ideas like 
     depriving the majority party of the essential tools to 
     operate the House of Representatives in a responsible 
     fashion.
       At a time when the Congress is assailed externally, we 
     witness Republican tactics that undermine consensus-building 
     and effective legislating.
       Former Speaker Sam Rayburn (D-Texas) used to say that ``any 
     jackass can kick down a barn door, but it takes a carpenter 
     to build one.''
       Congress-bashing is easy. You can get a cheap laugh by 
     calling this body the House of Reprehensibles. But it is much 
     more difficult to improve the House of Representatives in a 
     responsible way.
       This disengagement from the democratic process will not 
     succeed. It is government by gridlock. Nor will government by 
     talk show or biased editorials take over.
       If the new strategy of ``deconstructionism'' is not 
     challenged, the minority will rule the majority and those 
     with the fewest votes will attain the greatest authority.
       This stratagem took root in the aftermath of the GOP's 1992 
     election defeat when, already fragmented, the party broke 
     apart faster than Yugoslavia. Republican efforts to forge 
     unity were manifested in the House with a militant extremist 
     ascendancy that isolated moderate Republicans.
       The level of comity dropped. Rancor and bitterness emerged. 
     Instead of developing a viable GOP alternative to the Clinton 
     Administration, House Republicans resorted to takeover 
     tactics.
       Maybe the Grand Old Party is re-emerging as an ``attack 
     coalition.''
       That is what is indicated when the National Journal quotes 
     House Republicans as saying ``that their team now includes 
     such powerful voices as Ross Perot, talk-show host Rush 
     Limbaugh, and the Wall Street Journal editorial page.''
       Kate Walsh O'Beirne, a speaker at a post-Clinton Republican 
     ``summit,'' was applauded when she asserted that ``moderate 
     Republicans should be barred by law from ever working with 
     Democrats.'' So much for the vision of inclusion that 
     articulates a future better than the past.
       Whatever happened to the ``loyal opposition'' that made the 
     two-party system work?
       Unless they want to isolate themselves from the mainstream, 
     Republican ``deconstructionists'' must defend and not glibly 
     repudiate the free society they inherited. They might even 
     unite with the Republican party's moderates and, together, 
     find their way out of the wilderness and legitimately seek 
     their promised land of Republican control of the House.
       As a Democrat, I see our task as the restoration of the 
     primacy of the House, reclaiming its role, as George Mason 
     put it, as ``the grand repository of the democratic 
     principles of the government.''
       The House will survive the assaults of the 
     ``deconstructionists.'' Majority rule will prevail. An 
     aggressive minority will not accomplish by bullying tactics 
     what it failed to win in the voting booth.

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